The Windowless Tower
by Kitakana
Summary: In a windowless tower there lived a man locked in his past. A young warrior sought him, hoping to deliver him from his darkness. Will she be able to unlock all of the doors to understanding his past and present? Will she be able to win his love or will his secrets devour her? Jerza post-Tartaros AU based on a fairy tale.
1. Prologue to a Fairy Tale

**The Windowless Tower**

Disclaimer: Fairy Tail is the masterpiece of Hiro Mashima. The legends used in this story are not mine either for they belong to ages long past (definitely in common domain by now). But they will become clearer as the story progresses and for now I will not reveal them as they would undoubtedly spoil the ending of this story.

**Chapter 1: Prologue to a fairy tale**

* * *

Once upon a time there was a windowless tower in the dark of a forest hidden away from all light. It had been deserted for as long as anyone could remember, an old abandoned tower spiraling up from the ruins of an old castle, a testament to an age long past suspended in time.

But then the rumors had started. Rumors of strange lights and unearthly wails coming from the castle. Villagers who swore to the existence of young women who would be seen walking through the village asking about the castle, women who would be seen approaching the castle, women who would never be seen again. And there were whispers of a cloaked man who lived within the castle, a man with blue hair.

It was rumors of this kind that she had sought. She had been searching, searching for the past five years for some sign that pointed to his continued existence. She had feared-but no, she had never given up hope that he was out there somewhere, waiting for her to find him.

Erza had spent the day in the village collecting as much information as she could about the castle, barely visible on the mountainside overlooking the village from miles away. She had been brought to this village by a job actually, a low-ranking mission flyer posted in a tavern requesting an investigation on the disappearing women rumored to be connected in some way to the existence of the old castle on the mountainside. The job description had been vague, but it was the kind of job she now took quite a lot of, anything pointing to unsolved mysteries of missing people. For years she had been searching for any lead, anything that could lead her to rumors of him.

She had waited into the night to meet her client. He finally deigned to appear in the village's dingy pub at around eleven, but it had been worth the wait. She hadn't been able to believe her luck when he had mentioned that one of the women who disappeared had mentioned a cloaked blue-haired man.

She had not seen him since that day on the riverbank, that day when he had told her that he would walk the path of darkness, waiting for the day when their paths would meet again, the day when her light would shine bright enough to erase his existence. But the next day she had learned of Fairy Tail disbanding. And so she had resolved to find him, to join his guild even, to just to be around him, to save him from his path of darkness. But she had not been able to find him. For the first year or so, she had heard rumors of his guild's doings. She had followed these rumors, but had never been able to find them. Then the rumors had ceased-it was almost as if they had never existed. No new traces of where they had been or of what they had done could be found.

No traces until tonight. The whispers of a hidden blue-haired man seemed almost too good to be true. She would see about those rumors. With that, she resolved to go to the castle that very night-it couldn't be more than five miles away.

As she made to leave the bar, the client called out to her, "Beware the man within the castle. You would not be the first woman to seek him. Pray that you do not share their fate."

It was an odd warning, Erza thought as she left the bar. If it truly was _Jellal_ in that castle, Erza couldn't imagine him being the reason for the disappearing women, even though he might be able to give her some information. She could investigate that problem later, even though it was technically her mission. Her priority was in finding him and verifying his existence.

It was well past midnight when Erza reached the castle. It was too dark for her to make out much of it, all she could discern was a tower rising from what looked to be the ruins of an old castle.

The main door was not hard to find. It was a big, imposing wooden door that looked to be bolted shut from the inside. Erza stood before the door, collecting her thoughts, and she hesitated. Then she raised her fist and pounded on the door. She waited.

After a few minutes, she heard the door being unbarred from the inside. With a loud and ominous creak, the door swung inward into total darkness.

A ball of pale blue light slowly grew, illuminating a hand, then a torso, then a face hooded by a cloak. As the light reached his eyes, illuminating the markings across his cheek and the wisps of blue hair falling into his face, Erza's eyes widened.

"Erza." Jellal rasped, his voice laden with hidden emotions she could not fathom. "Are you coming inside?"

* * *

A/N: This story is based on an old fairy tale. I was inspired to write this story after seeing a performance of an adaptation of this fairy tale. I am being deliberately vague because it would not do to reveal exactly which fairy tale this is based on just yet. I am going to be following the plot of a specific version of a specific fairy tale fairly closely, all while making the necessary adaptations and additions to fit it into the FT universe. Props to the first one who guesses which fairy tale, but until the end of this story, I do not intend to reveal which fairy tale I follow as it would spoil the ending for everyone. Amuse yourselves guessing which version and which ending of which fairy tale I'm using until then, if you'd like. And because this is going to be following a specific fairy tale pretty closely, characters may get a bit OOC to fit with my twisted plot, but I'll try not to take too many liberties.

And a warning. This story will be rated T for the first few chapters, nothing too objectionable yet. After a certain point though, the rating will go up. Warnings will appear as I get to those chapters. But do not plan on this being a happy fluffy story. There will be elements of that, yes, and maybe even lemons later (if I get enough people requesting that), but expect it to be not such a warm and fuzzy story throughout.

Please let me know what you think about where this story is heading. I value your feedback. And thank you for reading.

Until next chapter mina-san.


	2. The hidden armory

Disclaimer: Fairy Tail is the masterpiece of Hiro Mashima. The legends used in this story are not mine either for they belong to ages long past. But they will become clearer as the story progresses and for now I will not reveal them as they would undoubtedly spoil the ending.

**Chapter 2: The hidden armory**

* * *

Erza could not believe her good fortune. It was really him. She stood on the threshold of his dark abode, staring at him. In the dim light she could barely see his face, but there was no mistaking him. It was her Jellal. She was at a loss for words.

"Erza," he repeated, "Are you coming?"

She nodded, but as she stepped forward, she felt her skirt snag on something. She pulled her skirt free as discreetly as she could.

Interpreting Erza's pause as hesitation, Jellal asked her, "Are you afraid?"

"N…no." Erza shook her head and stepped into the narrow hallway. "I must have caught my skirt on something…"

"The door is still open," he said, stepping behind her, "just give me a moment…"

As Jellal barred and bolted the heavy door behind her, Erza watched the way the light from his palm flickered across the walls. She saw that they looked damp almost as if the castle was underground or closed off completely to the flow of fresh air. It was almost as though the walls were crying, she thought, watching small tears of water run down the damp walls.

"Jellal," she said, finally remembering to ask questions, "is this really your castle?"

He nodded and took her arm, leading her forward into the darkness. He led her to a spiral staircase and then they climbed upwards.

"Is it always this dark in here? Are there no windows? How can you live in a place so damp, dark, and gloomy?" Erza asked him question after question as he led her up and up the stairs through the damp palpable darkness.

"I told you I lived in the shadows and the dark." And he had told her that the last time she had seen him, but she had always assumed that he had meant that much more figuratively.

"Does the inside of this place ever see daylight?"

"Never. There are no windows here and sunlight cannot enter." Jellal led her into a small room. The room was painfully bare. There were two chairs, a small table, a shelf of books, a cabinet, a closed door, and a bed in one corner. Jellal motioned for Erza to take a chair. He lit the small lamp on the table and took a seat opposite Erza.

"Why did you come here?" He asked her, looking directly into her eyes.

"To deliver you from your darkness," Erza replied, holding his gaze. And she realized as she spoke that her words were true, she would do anything to rescue him, to have him walk with her in the light.

"Erza," he spoke heavily, "I do not intend to leave this castle."

"Then I shall bring light into it."

They sat for a long moment, a silent battle of wills taking place as they stared into each others' eyes. Finally Jellal bowed his head in resignation.

"You may stay here indefinitely." He motioned to the bed in the corner of the room. "We can talk more tomorrow. But for now, you should sleep. I'll take the chair."

"Thank you." Erza was suddenly hit with a wave of fatigue. Her day seeking out rumors, her midnight trek up to his castle, the past five years of searching for him, and the relief she felt after finally having found him all weighed heavily upon her. "But please, be here when I wake up?"

Jellal nodded to her, sinking back into his chair and pulling up his hood. Reassured that he would not slip off and disappear once again into the darkness, Erza stood up and ex-quipped into her sword pajamas. She walked over to his bed, pulled back the covers, and was asleep by the time her head hit the pillow.

But sleep did not come as easily for Jellal. He sat for what seemed like hours, pondering her sleeping form. She had no idea what she was attempting, saying that she would bring light into his tower. For this castle held many secrets best left in the dark. He was not the same person that she had known five years ago. He hoped for her sake that she would not pry too far into the locked parts of his life. For that could only end badly.

As Jellal watched her chest rise and fall, he let his eyes fall shut and he drifted into a restless sleep.

When Erza awoke, she could not tell if it was still night or if morning had come. There were no windows in this room to gage the time. Erza saw that Jellal had gone, but in his place there was a note saying that he had left to find something for them to eat and soon would return.

Since she had no way to tell how long it would take Jellal to return, she decided to do some exploring.

Erza discovered that the door in the corner of Jellal's room that she had first assumed to be a closet was locked, bolted fast with a large lock and keyhole. Much as she wanted to, Erza resisted the urge to break down the locked door. It was probably not such a good idea to destroy his property on a whim, especially after not having seen him for so long.

Using a flashlight from her exquip space to guide her, Erza explored what she could access of the castle. There was not a lot to explore. Her explorations yielded a small kitchen on the ground floor, and bathroom with running water but no lights, a long corridor below ground, and six more locked doors in various places.

Erza assumed most of the locked doors led into the ruined parts of the castle which were probably structurally unsound. That must be why there were so many locked doors, for if she remembered correctly, the old castle ruins surrounding the tower would be in those directions.

And there were no windows. The only access to the outside she had found (other than, potentially, the mysterious locked doors) was the door she had come through the previous night.

The whole tower was dark and dank. It smelled of mold and the walls were damp in nearly every room except the bedroom. The entryway, the basement corridor, and the stairwell were the worst; in some places water dripped down the walls as if the tower itself was weeping.

Erza's overall impression of the tower was that it was rather solemn and foreboding. Everything was veiled in darkness, gloomy and ominous. She wondered if her light would ever be able to pierce these shadows.

* * *

When Jellal returned, he found Erza seated at the table in the kitchen polishing a piece of her armor with the light from her flashlight. He set down a sack on the table before her unceremoniously.

"I got us something to eat," he said, not meeting her eyes as she looked up at him.

Erza opened the package in front of her and then her eyebrows shot up. "You only got us at lot of rice and dried meat," she accused, "nothing else!"

"It seemed more than sufficient."

Erza rolled her eyes at him, wondering what he had lived off of for the past five years if this was what he called more than sufficient.

As Jellal lit a fire and placed water on to boil for the rice, Erza decided to attempt to get some answers from him.

"Have you been here for the past five years?"

"Only for the past four."

"And how did you end up hiding in this horrible place?"

"Circumstance. And I'm living here. And it's not horrible."

"I beg to differ. But what have you been doing since I last saw you?"

"I traveled with my guild for a while, and then I ended up here."

"How did you end up here? And what happened to Crime Sorcière?"

"Erza." Jellal was suddenly standing right in front of her. He grasped her hands in his own and looked at her imploringly. "Do not ask me these questions."

Erza eyed him for a moment, weighing her options. She wanted to pursue this topic-his request for her to stop asking questions had piqued her curiosity. Or she could let it drop until later and try to get answers to other questions she had. She opted for the later option.

"Why are there so many locked doors in this castle?" Erza drew herself closer to Jellal, taking advantage of the fact that he still held her hands to pull herself up and to get up into his face. "They can't all be locked to block off access to dangerous ruins of the old castle."

"They are locked because no one must see what is behind them," he replied, pulling her to her feet and drawing her closer to him.

Erza was distracted from his words by his proximity. There were mere inches separating their bodies. As Erza looked up into his face, she felt her stomach squirm uncomfortably. But his words prompted even more questions. Erza shook her head to herself and tried to reform her thoughts; he was trying to distract her with his proximity and she wouldn't let herself fall for it.

"Show me what's behind those doors, Jellal." She stated, staring up into his bottomless eyes. "If I am going to stay here with you, I want to know what it is that you have to hide."

Jellal stared down into her eyes for a long moment, appearing to contemplate her request.

"Alright," he said. Then he remained silent for a long moment. His reply came as somewhat of a shock to Erza, she had expected at least a bit more resistance. But he was not done speaking. "I will give you one key."

Erza felt Jellal's hands withdraw from hers, but they returned a moment later to press something cold and metallic into her palm. She had a key to one of his hidden rooms.

"We have time to look at this room while the rice cooks, right?" Erza grabbed Jellal's hand and dragged him from the kitchen as Jellal wondered to himself if she even knew which key he had given her.

After Erza had tried the key unsuccessfully in several locks (with Jellal trailing behind her and halfheartedly mentioning that it wasn't _that _locked door), she finally came to the correct lock in the basement of the tower. Erza turned the key in the lock and pushed the door inward with a loud creak. What she saw inside the locked door took her breath away.

It was an armory.

Swords of various styles, bows and arrows, spears, sparring staffs, and even whips lined the walls. There were several suits of armor tucked in the corners. Various daggers, knives, and projectiles littered the table in the middle of the room. Erza was in awe. Although nothing here was too exotic and even though she already owned many similar items, she couldn't help admiring the hoard of weaponry.

She walked forward and took a spear from the wall. She tested its weight and how it felt in her palm. This was a nice spear. She was about to ask Jellal if he would let her use it when she noticed a dark stain that ran from the point and up the spear's length. Erza brought the blade of the spear up to her face and sniffed. She had hoped that was rust, but there was no mistaking that coppery smell.

Erza looked at the other weapons in the armory and her stomach lurched, slightly sickened. For the rest of the weapons in Jellal's armory had points stained the same rust-brown as the spear she held and the suits of armor lurking in the corners were spattered in it.

Erza looked up at Jellal who stood motionless in the doorway. From this angle, she could not see the expression on his face. She glared at him accusingly. "Blood! Blood on all the spears and daggers! All of your weapons are blood-stained!"

Jellal merely looked at her, making no move to defend himself or his armory. "Are you frightened?"

Erza shook her head, mentally collecting herself. "I'm just disgusted that no one cared to clean these weapons after using them," she replied, "Such disrespect for such fine weaponry."

"Come," Jellal beckoned her, "You can come back here whenever you would like, but the rice should be ready by now. Let's go eat."

And with that, Jellal led Erza from the first of his locked rooms.

* * *

A/N: A note on the time frame of this story: it picks up about five years after FT 416 (THE chapter). That makes this a post-Tartaros arc AU, if you really want to get technical about it. But Jellal has changed in that time. Erza has yet to determine exactly how much. You will find out as she does.

Also, just so that you know, these chapters are not all going to be as long as this one. Erza will simple delve a bit more into Jellal's hidden psyche with each chapter. There will probably be anywhere from six to ten more chapters. I'll try to update at least every few weeks for now.

Until next time mina-san.


	3. The poisoned treasury

**Chapter 3: The poisoned treasury**

Disclaimer: Fairy Tail is the masterpiece of Hiro Mashima. The legends used in this story are not mine either for they belong to ages long past. But they will become clearer as the story progresses for now I will reveal them bit by bit as they spiral into darkness.

* * *

Erza ate her meal in silence, watching Jellal. He remained impassive.

Jellal had deflected all of her direct questions, distracting her by asking her questions about herself or by just flat out refusing to answer. He seemed to have gotten better at coming up with ways to deflect questions over the years. (At least now he wasn't spouting ridiculous lies as answers-she still hadn't forgotten the fiancée incident…)

Erza had to admit that she was puzzled by his lack of responses. The Jellal she had known in the past had been much more vocal and much more open about his past. Angst-ridden and self-punishing, perhaps, but he had at least been open about his past to her before. Erza wondered what could have happened in five years to change him so drastically.

They finished their meal of rice and dried meat. Jellal took the dishes and washed them, remaining silent. Then he returned to the kitchen table and sat down across from Erza. He folded his hands in his lap and just _looked_ at her.

The silence was rather tense. His silence was too much. It was all too much. She had been searching for him for years and now she had found him-and yet he would say nothing. She had had enough. Erza couldn't take it anymore.

"Jellal!" She burst out, "Talk to me!"

He merely continued to stare at her.

"I'm sick of your silence and your secrets! I haven't seen you in five years! Five years, Jellal! You could at least talk to me."

"Erza." Jellal sighed, folding his hands together in his lap. "I don't know what to tell you. I am not the same person you knew."

"Then show me who you are!" Erza's eyes glittered dangerously. She was on the edge of really losing her temper at him.

"Erza. Why are you here?"

His question made her pause. Why was she here, of all places? There was no simple response. How could she express to him how he had preoccupied her thoughts for the past five years? She had missed him, worried for him, remembered him, and searched so long in vain for him. And now that she had found him, why were they both still here? Why wasn't she even entertaining the possibility of leaving without him?

Erza decided to take this question for what it was-a questioning of her rationale for wanting so badly to find him and stay with him. For if she was going to stay here until she could get him to leave with her, she should probably have this conversation with him sooner rather than later. So that least one of them would be open about their motivations.

"I would think that that would be obvious." Erza met his gaze with her own as she replied as if daring him to contradict her.

"You have so much to leave behind." He did not deny her statement, evading the challenge in her words.

"And yet I am here."

Jellal bowed his head in acknowledgement.

"And I would fight if you dared turn me away."

"That I do not doubt," he replied, as if that was his only reason for refraining from doing exactly that. "But you did not answer my question."

"Jellal," she spoke imploringly, leaning forward across the table towards him. "Jellal. I love you."

And Jellal just stared at her, his eyes widening slightly. It was not the reason he had sought, she knew. It was a non-reason, an irrationalization to hide behind. A distraction from the underlying questions between them. And yet she knew that it was nonetheless part of her response.

And with his reaction to her words, she finally succeeded in catching a glimpse of the Jellal she had known before. When his eyes widened and he finally saw _her_, it felt like it was really him, her Jellal, sitting across the table from her. And that glimpse would be her reason to stay, to keep trying, to bring him back into the light. Because she knew with the look that he gave her that her Jellal was still there for her to save. It gave her hope.

"Erza, I…" Jellal paused, still looking at her with slightly widened eyes. Then he lowered his eyes, as if making a decision. "I am not good for you. Less so than before."

"That is not your judgment to make. You will not turn me away."

Jellal did not meet her eyes. "…No, I will not."

"I will break down all of your barriers, I will drag you out from behind all of your locked doors. And if you will not leave this castle, then I will bring light into it."

Jellal's eyes rose slowly up to meet hers. But there were so many shadows in the dark room that Erza could read nothing in his gaze. Holding her gaze, Jellal rose to his feet and made to leave the room. As he reached the doorway, he beckoned to her.

"Then come with me."

He led her to a closed door off of the tower's entryway. As he pushed open the door, she realized that it had always been unlocked-it must just have been stuck when she had explored earlier. As he opened the door it swung inward and air rushed out from the open doorway noisily. It was almost as if the castle itself was sighing.

Jellal led her through the door into a narrow passageway which curved out of sight. As they rounded the corner, Erza sucked in her breath. She could see light. A gleaming river of golden light from under the door at the end of the passageway flooded her senses.

"Jellal! There's light! Will you not open the door?"

"Very well." He produced a key from somewhere in his clothing and handed it to her.

Erza approached the door and tried in vain to find the lock. After a few moments of this, Jellal spoke.

"Why are you hesitating? This is what you wanted to see."

"It's hard to see in the darkness when I'm blinded by so much light. Help me?"

As she faltered, Jellal put his hand on her shoulder. She expected Jellal's presence to be reassuring but instead she felt a thrill of trepidation. Jellal's other hand found Erza's and guided it to the lock. He kept his hand on hers as she turned the key and pushed the door open.

Erza had to blink her eyes several times as they adjusted to the dim golden glow that seemed to emanate from the room, so much brighter than the darkness of the rest of the castle. When her vision cleared, she saw that the small room's contents were indeed golden. She swallowed, looking around her. It was quite the sight to behold.

There were mountains of gold. Piles of it. The small room was packed full. There were glittering metallic coins, emeralds, pearls, rubies, diamonds, and even some bejeweled weapons. This was a ridiculous amount of wealth.

Erza turned to look at Jellal, speechless.

"…So, this is my treasury."

Erza wasn't quite sure how to react. Her first thought was that he was incredible rich. Her second thought was to wonder how he had come by this huge fortune and what he planned on doing with it.

"When did you get to be so rich?"

"I don't want it." A blank stare answered her question along with his non-answer. "Do what you want with it."

Erza looked to him questioningly.

"Erza, look at it."

And as Erza gazed at the piles of gold and gems, it was as if her vision shifted to see beyond the golden glow that had at first blinded her. As she stepped forward to look more closely at the gold coins before her, she felt her stomach plummet, suddenly sickened. For just as with the weapons in the armory, the gold in the treasury was covered with dull rust-colored splotches, too uniformly defined to be mere rust.

Erza took a step back, recoiling at the sight. As a warrior, she could handle most gruesome scenes, but seeing a room full of blood-spattered gold here, in Jellal's castle, was rather hard to stomach.

Jellal put his hand on her shoulder, as if to reassure her, and turned her to face him.

"How can you possibly love the man bound to this place?"

Erza's eyes flickered from his face to the room's contents and back. She was at a loss for what to say. So she said nothing. She grabbed his hand, forced the key back into it, and dragged him from the poisoned treasury, slamming the door behind them.

She just wanted to get away for a moment. She barely noticed that Jellal followed her after locking the treasury's door behind them. She walked through the darkness and eventually her feet led her up the tower and into Jellal's room. She sank into one of the chairs, feeling mentally drained.

Jellal moved into his room behind her and closed the door. He lit the lamp on the table and pulled the second chair up next to hers. Erza was again startled by his need for proximity as he sat down next to her and brought his hand up to rest on her shoulder.

Slowly, his arm made its way around Erza's shoulders and pulled her against his side. No words were said and for a long while, Jellal just held Erza against him, silently watching the shadows flickering in the lamplight.

* * *

A/N: On love-I'd like to be an idealist. I am betting Erza would like to be one too. But. (And there is always a _but_). There is just too much drama in their relationship, past (canon) and present, for it to be that simple. A simple 'I love you' just doesn't cut it. They aren't magic words that will make everything all happy and fluffy. If anything, they create more drama and more tensions and questions to unravel. We will see this play out in following chapters.

Also, it seems the initial setup for the fairy tale I'm following is developing itself into my own head-canon. It looks as if I will have the material to write a lengthy oneshot prequel to this story on how Jellal came to be in the castle. It kind of wrote itself in my notes as I was writing this chapter. So, just keep in mind that everything I write can be explained, I have explanations for everything that's happening. They will become clear as the story progresses.

I had one anonymous reviewer leave me a review that I would have liked to have responded to. If you review again, sign in and I'll respond (because I have things to say). I've also had a handful of reviews talking about how this is such a darkfic. I hadn't really conceptualized it that way, but you're totally right. It really is, isn't it? But thanks to the handful of people who reviewed. You make me want to keep writing this, as dark as it is.


	4. The secret garden

_**The Windowless Tower**_

Disclaimer: Fairy Tail is the masterpiece of Hiro Mashima. Please note spoilers for and heavy inspiration from FT manga chapter 264. Also, the legends used in this story are not mine for they belong to ages long past.

**Chapter 4: The Secret Garden**

* * *

_**"**__I was standing in a garden, a garden gone to seed, choked with every kind of weed. There were twisted trees around me, all black against the sky, black, and bare, and dead, and dry. My father called, come out of this place, I wanted to go, but there was no way, no sign, no path to show me the way. Then another voice was calling, it barely could be heard. I remember every word: 'There is a garden, come with me, come with me. A shining garden, come and see, come and see. There love will teach us harmony and grace, harmony and grace. Then love will lead us to a quiet place.' "_

-Marc Blitzstein, _Trouble in Tahiti_

* * *

Jellal held Erza against him for a long time. Erza was lost-both in her thoughts and in his presence against her. She wondered whether everything in this castle he lived in was tarnished with blood and she wondered how to reconcile the Jellal she had known with the Jellal next to her.

What was going on with Jellal anyway? She wondered why he kept warning her, not answering her questions, and pushing her away. And yet, why couldn't he seem to push her away entirely? He did not let go of her. As Erza's thoughts progressed, she could have sworn his arm tightened around her shoulders.

And so they sat, for what had to have been several hours, locked in their own thoughts and lost in each other's presence. It was impossible to tell how much time passed in this tower devoid of all sunlight.

Eventually Jellal drew slightly away from her.

"Erza." Jellal watched her shift to look up into his face. "There is one place here that you might actually enjoy. Would you like me to show it to you?"

Erza nodded, slightly surprised that he was allowing her to pass yet another of his barriers, especially of his own volition.

"Come with me," he said, rising and pulling her to her feet.

He did not let go of her hand as he led her from his room and down the tower's spiraling stairs. When they reached the tower's entryway, he led to he to a small locked door. With the hand not holding hers, he reached into his cloak and withdrew a small key which he fitted into the lock. He pushed the door open and led Erza into a dim passageway.

The passageway seemed to go on forever. As they went on, Erza was dimly aware of the air becoming fresher, less stale and less damp. Eventually, Erza became aware of a dim glow coming from the passage's end. As they drew nearer, Erza's eyes widened in surprise.

For what she saw was daylight. Real daylight. Not some unearthly glow of poisoned blood money, but true sunlight, even as dim as it was. She had had no idea that his castle had any access to the outside beyond the front door. And she smelled fresh air. Outside air untarnished by the damp and dark of Jellal's tower.

The passageway opened into daylight. Or more precisely, what was left of daylight as the sun was quite low in the sky and its light was fading fast. Jellal led Erza from the crumbling mouth of the passageway into a large courtyard of sorts in the middle of the old castle ruins. It was surrounded on all sides by high crumbling walls in various states of disrepair. It seemed Erza's initial hunch earlier that day had been correct-some of the tower's locked doors did lead into the old castle ruins.

The center of the courtyard was fairly open and Erza saw why as she noticed patches of old flagstones peaking out below the undergrowth on the courtyard's floor. The courtyard looked as if it had once been beautiful in ages long past. But time had let it go to seed and all but the hardiest of plants and weeds had long gone. Now all it held were the remnants of a garden lost to time.

Erza felt as though she was stepping into a lost realm out of a fairy tale. There was a stillness in this garden, a stillness mixed with peace and sorrow that hung heavy in the air unlike anything Erza had ever experienced. The walls surrounding the courtyard were mostly covered in a soft green moss, as were the several large stones that had fallen from the walls to litter the outer edges of the courtyard. Gnarled trees devoid of leaves grew in places against the ruin's walls. Light filtered into the garden through the bare branches of dead twisted trees, all black against the sky in the dim blood-red light from the setting sun.

Erza stepped into the center of the old garden and Jellal followed behind her. He still had not let go of her hand. Erza's eyes fell onto a large slab of moss-covered stone in one corner, overgrown with an unkempt sprawling rose bush. It was not the stone or the rose bush that caught her attention, but the single white rose barely visible in the growing twilight.

Erza walked to the rose bush and lifted the white rose to her face, smelling it. It smelled sweet but almost sickly so, like the worst of hybrid roses bred to the point of having lost their natural sweetness.

As Erza drew the rose away from her face, she saw that the dark inside of the rose, which she had at first taken for shadow, was in fact part of the rose's coloring. For the rose was not purely white. It had deep red veining out from its center, almost as if blood were seeping from within it. Erza quickly let go of the rose and stepped back, slightly disconcerted. Was there nothing in this castle untarnished by bloodshed?

"It's beautiful," she said, turning to face Jellal, "and yet there is so much sadness here. In this light, it almost looks as if the whole garden is bleeding sorrow."

"And yet it holds a certain charm." Jellal reached forward to grasp her other hand so that he was now holding both of her hands in his. "That is why I wanted to bring you here. I thought you of all people would understand."

His eyes were burning with an unfathomable emotion, Erza saw as she looked up into his dark blue-gray eyes. His eyes held hers for a long moment, communicating some unknown burning emotion to her and she found herself caught up in his penetrating gaze.

"Erza…" He whispered as he brought a hand up to trail his fingers along the side of her face.

The shiver his touch brought jolted Erza back to reality. She saw what he was doing. He was distracting her, playing on her emotions. Drawing her thoughts away from everything that was happening between them, all of his secrecy, all of her unanswered questions, all of their unresolved tension that could not possibly be resolved by physical contact alone. So Erza decided to act.

In one smooth motion, Erza stepped back from Jellal, pulling her hand from his. "Let's spar."

Jellal's expression changed to one of puzzlement. "…What?"

"Fight me." Erza was mentally sizing up the location around her, deciding it would be a suitable space to let off some steam. She had had enough inactivity for the day.

As Jellal's eyes narrowed, Erza exquipped into her standard armor and held her sword ready, shifting into a fighting stance. Jellal held her eyes for a long moment and then, ever so slightly, he nodded his head.

Without a word, Erza sprang forward towards Jellal.

* * *

In the town below the castle ruins, an old man looked up at the tower on the mountainside and shook his head. It had started again. He had hired a mage in hopes of putting a stop to the rumors and clearing up the mystery of the tower, but it seemed that this woman was only continuing it.

For this girl, like the others, had seemed far too interested in the rumors of the cloaked blue-haired man living in the tower. It had been said that she had asked all over the village for information on him. And now the lights were showing.

The old man saw lights in the sky above the tower, swirling dark blue lights and the occasional flash of what looked almost like molten starlight. He heard the distant sounds of metal against rock. And distantly, he heard a woman's fierce yell, carried down the mountainside faintly on the wind. Then the lights faded, almost as if they had been sucked back into the darkness from whence they had come.

It seemed that the red-haired warrior had not heeded his words to her that night. The man sighed to himself. Next time, he thought, maybe he should specify in the job request the need for a male mage, one with a strong disinterest in mysterious blue-haired men. After one last look at the fading lights on the mountainside, he shook his head and went back inside his favorite dingy bar. It was definitely time for another drink.

* * *

Erza fought hard, holding back just enough to avoid destroying what was left of the desolate garden. Jellal barely held back either. He was taking her seriously. Her sword danced around him as the light of his magic came at her.

They fought and they fought. Erza poured all of her frustration towards Jellal into her movements and in turn, he met her with a passion she had almost believed that he had lost. They were fairly evenly matched with neither using their most deadly moves for fear of harming the other.

But eventually, as the sunset's last light dissipated into darkness, Erza felt her body beginning to give way to exhaustion. Jellal was breathing heavily as well, but he seemed to refuse to let up until she did. So Erza felt it was time to end this. And of course, she was determined to win.

She put on a burst of speed and darted forward, bringing her sword up in front of her. She had Jellal backed into the same corner that held the rose bush with the unusual white rose. Jellal dodged to one side but she anticipated him, darting in front of him again and forcing him backwards. But there was no where for him to fall back to. She had him backed into a corner. As he stepped back, he stumbled and fell backward across the slab of rock next to the rose bush. Erza stepped forward and pressed the tip of her sword against his neck. The rose Erza had smelled earlier flopped across Jellal's chest, as if to mock him Erza's victory.

"I win." She muttered softly as Jellal stared up wonderingly into her eyes, panting heavily.

As she looked down at him, her gaze softened. After a few moments of holding him at sword-point, she withdrew her sword and exquipped out of her armored top into a long sleeved-sweater. Jellal watched her hair lift as she transformed and then fall back down to settle around her face.

Erza smiled down at Jellal, but saw in his eyes a certain tension. She drew back and offered her his hand to pull him up. But as his hand grasped hers and she pulled him to his feet, Erza felt herself trip backwards over a small rock sticking out.

Erza felt an odd sense of déjà vu as she fell backward, pulling Jellal with her. She landed awkwardly, flat on her back with Jellal hovering over her, his hands on either side of her face. They stared at each other with wide surprised eyes, both undoubtedly remembering a similar incident years ago.

But this time, Erza thought, Jellal did not have the excuse of having a fiancée to turn her away. He had already agreed to let her stay with him. He had told her he would not turn her away.

"Erza…" Jellal stared down at her. Erza could barely make out his features, his face was hidden in shadow. Above him, Erza could make out the night's first stars shining brilliantly.

"Jellal…" She could feel him drawing closer to her as his eyes held her own. Erza wished it was lighter out so that she could read more of the emotions undoubtedly shining in his eyes.

Erza felt her heart beat increasing. Jellal's face drew closer to hers, closer and closer. She felt his breath against her face, saw his eyes flicker down to her lips and then back to her eyes. As Jellal's face drew even closer, she saw his eyes flutter closed, and felt herself close her own. Erza held her breath, waiting.

Hesitant, with barely any pressure, she felt his lips meet her own. Erza felt fire jolt through her nerves with the contact. He drew back slightly and for a split second she was afraid that he would push her away yet again, but then his lips returned with a passion, molding themselves to hers.

She felt his arms come up, one cradle the side of her face and the other to tangle in her hair and pull her closer, deepening their kiss. Without his arms supporting him, Erza felt his whole weight against her body and she relished the contact. Jellal kissed her hungrily and she met him with equal fervor.

It was as if all of the hidden passion and tension between them was pouring into their kiss. Erza poured all of her frustrations into the kiss, all of her exasperation at him and all of her worries. He, in turn, kissed her with all of the feelings he kept locked away. Feeling the raw emotions he was exposing to her, Erza brought her arms around his back and held him tight against her.

Eventually Jellal broke their kiss, pulling back. "Erza… I…"

"Shhh…" Erza leaned up and pressed her lips to his softly for a moment before pulling away. "Jellal..."

Jellal pulled back a bit more. "It's getting late, we should probably head back…" He rolled off of her and began to rise, pulling her with him.

It was now fully dark outside. Stars were shining above the garden and a sliver of a moon could barely be seen behind the twisted black trees.

Jellal pulled her against him and kissed lightly her once more, briefly, before taking her hand in one of his. He brought light into his other hand, illuminating the ruined courtyard around them. Then he led her back across the garden into the darkness that led back to his tower.

They did not speak as he led her through the long dark passageway back to his tower. Erza was lost in her own thoughts, enjoying the warmth that spread into her from Jellal's hand holding her own.

Before she knew it, they were nearing the top of the tower's spiral stairway and Jellal was leading her into his room.

"You should sleep." Jellal's voice cut through the silence, startling Erza. "I can take the chair again."

Erza silently exquipped into her sword pajamas as she had the previous night. She crawled into Jellal's bed as he sat down in a chair, looking at her. But as Erza pulled the covers up around her, she found that she just couldn't let the night end that way.

"Jellal?"

"Hmm?" He raised his eyebrows and titled his head to the side.

"Come here?"

Jellal's eyes widened and he seemed to Erza on the verge of panicking.

"Not like that! Just… you don't have to sleep in that chair, the bed has enough space for two people in it."

Erza thought for a moment that Jellal would refuse her. But as she watched, he rose to his feet and walked over to the bed. He lifted up the covers and slid into his bed, facing her.

"Goodnight Erza," he whispered to her, his eyes holding her own with an intensity that she could barely stand.

She reached to pull him towards her and then she leaned forward and gave him a brief, gentle kiss. "Goodnight Jellal."

Erza closed her eyes, content to have him beside her, and felt herself drift off to sleep. She felt happier than she had been in what seemed like years.

Jellal lay awake beside her for a long while, silently battling with himself. As he felt himself finally about to slip into sleep, he wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close. And when he finally did fall asleep, he slept soundly for the first time in years.

* * *

A/N: The type of rose that Erza smelled in the garden actually exists. It is a variety called candy stripe but the specific bloom she smelled was one that had way more white than red on it. Look it up if you're interested. It fits this story pretty well. And since it's a hybrid rose, I imagine it not smelling that great due to over hybridization issues.

A note one the interlude with the old man during their fight: this is the same man mentioned as Erza's client in the first chapter. Erza has nearly forgotten about him by this point. She has too many other things occupying her mind.

As for the Jerza drama-fluff scene, I shamelessly ripped a lot of it off from Fairy Tail manga chapter 264. You all remember that one, right? The one where they (almost?) kiss and then Jellal tells Erza that he has a fiancée? Yeah, that manga chapter.

Also, this is the first story in a long time that I've started posting without having most of it completed. I'm writing it as I go. So, even I don't quite know where exactly this story will take them and how precisely they'll get there.

Thank you to everyone who has been reading and especially to everyone who has been reviewing. _(Je vous adore!)_ Your comments really make writing this story worthwhile. Just knowing that there are people out there somewhere reading and enjoying this story, you make this story develop more fully as you motivate me to delve more into the story's darkness.


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